Into the New World
by VashiMiku
Summary: Mori and Chosokabe awaken to find that they are stuck together on a deserted island, and that a mutual acquaintance is behind this nonsense.  Can they survive their environment long enough to forge the friendship that could unite two lands?  YAOI
1. Chapter 1

Mori Motonari thought at first that he was still dreaming. What a sweet fantasy come true to awaken with the rays of the morning sun warming his face and the scent of the sea on a gentle breeze. The serenity was heightened to perfection by the sounds of gulls crying overhead and the waves crashing gently on the nearby shore. Ambient, though it was, a dream would be the only logical explanation for why he was here, lying against the heated sand of some beach instead of home in Aki, safe in his bed.

HIS land- no one would take it from him. It was safe for now, even after his uncalculated defeat at the hands of the pawn, Sanada Yukimura. Following that encounter, the warlord had gone home to that land to lick his wounds, as it were. He should have been awakening in bed there now.

Slowly, his long brown lashes parted to reveal his hazel-brown eyes. They stared at the clear blue sky in bewilderment for just a few moments, but then narrowed at the sound of the last voice he would want to hear.

"Goodmorning, Sunshine!" It was a gruff, masculine voice suited to a ruffian who was forever yelling crude things—a man who referred to his followers with such an undignified term as "sons of bitches".

"Chosokabe Motochika…" Motonari spoke the name with scorn as he sat up slowly. He felt that his kabuto was gone, but the lack of headgear was not his biggest concern at the moment. Both hands felt around him for his weapon. However, he found none, much to Chosokabe's apparent amusement.

"Looking for your hula hoop, Mori? You won't find it. Here, let me."

His first thought was to slap the hand away, and that would have been a gesture that Motochika would have expected. The two were as far away from being friends as Aki was far away from Oshu. Any gesture of kindness was typically outright rejected. However, Motonari surprised the more muscular man by taking his hand and allowing himself to be pulled to his feet.

"There," Motochika smiled, his one visible blue eye gleaming playfully as he started to smile. In response to this, the smaller man scowled.

To put it bluntly, Motonari hated Motochika's face. It was not that it was an ugly face. The demon part of the man's title as "Demon of the Western Seas" came more from his behavior, strength, and prowess in battle than anything to do with his appearance. Chosokabe's face was a hated one because it was Chosokabe's face. That was that, and as such, Motonari took great pleasure in slamming his head into it.

"What the he-" Motochika began before a right hook was taken to the rippling muscles of his abdomen. As if this wasn't enough, Mori's fist slammed under the silver-haired pirate's chin and then the left palm was thrust into his nose. All of this happened so fast that the so called demon was left stunned as he backed away.

"Hmph, so long as I have the divine protection of the sun, I need not even a weapon!" Motonari gloated.

"In that case, I hope it starts to storm, you bastard," Motochika complained as he held his now bleeding nose. It couldn't be said that he didn't know why this was happening to him. Mori was not just a son of bitch to Motchika. He **WAS** the bitch. The question was why hadn't the pirate seen this coming?

The general in green stood in a defensive stance, ready to show off his prowess in unarmed combat. Something did not feel right, however, and this caused him to calm down again. Standing up right, he felt along his arms, realizing that his sode were missing. Now more confused than anything, he turned to the pirate for answers.

"Chosokabe, where is your weapon?" He couldn't recall a time when he had seen the brute without the crude spear-like weapon he had fashioned from a ship's anchor and a length of chain attached to a pole.

The pirate had been advancing on him with one fist raised, meaning to clobber the smaller daimyo upside the head. He was stopped in his tracks by the question, however, and now stood with a puzzled expression that quickly gave way to a good natured shrug.

"We're in the same boat, huh, Mori? I woke up here just as confused as you are."

"Here," Motonari repeated as he started to look around. As far as he could see, there was nothing but palm trees, sand, and rocky cliffs further back. Nothing about this land appeared familiar at all. Had they been marooned? "If I am stuck here with you…"

"Yea, I know. Seppuku is your preferred option, right?"

The damned pirate seemed far too amused with all of this for Motonari's tastes. Much to his chagrin, the other man even sat down on the sand with his legs crossed and then leaned backwards onto his elbows as though the two were on some sort of vacation.

"If you have anything to do with this…" Motonari's eyes narrowed slowly as he gazed upon the slacker.

"Not a thing," Motochika shrugged. He then made a loud snorting noise and spat blood upon the ground, disgusting his fellow warlord. "I'd say I'd like to meet the son of a bitch that carried me here, but I already know 'em, I think."

"Well?" Motonari was becoming impatient.

Hate is such a strong word, and that is why it was perfect to describe what he felt for his rival. The perpetrator of such a cruel joke as placing these two together needed to pay with their lives.

"The last thing I remember was having drinks with Maeda Keiji."

"Then I will assume he is to blame and obliterate him with the power of the sun," Motonari spoke simply. Then, folding his arms, he started off into the jungle of palm trees with every intention of leaving Motochika behind.

"Hey wait, Mori! It's dangerous to go alone!"

Neither party would care all of that much, to be honest. Thus, even the pirate was not sure of why he had bothered to shout that. Aside from believing that Keiji had placed them in this situation, Motochika was as clueless as his rival, and he was also as reluctant to share his company. However, he had his honor, which would not allow him to sit by while an unarmed man wandered alone. Besides, the only other option was to sit on the beach by himself.

Mori had taken to walking slowly so as to carefully observe every last detail of his surroundings. This thoroughness was soon rewarded with the sight of a tree with a stripe of red paint along the trunk. Of course, this had to have some meaning, and so he began to scan the area for another, ignoring Motochika's blabbering as the other caught up to him. A few yards away, there was yet another tree with this marking. Now it was obvious that someone had marked a trail for them.

While Motonari did all of the work of finding the marked trees along the trail, the pirate talked and talked, even though he was being actively ignored. It wasn't a very long walk. About five trees in total were marked with red paint before the pair finally came upon one marked with green. Beneath it, the earth formed a soft mound, giving evidence to someone having buried something here recently. Folding his arms, the smaller daimyo turned to Motochika and cleared his throat.

"What?" The pirate stared back. He had the feeling that he was being subtly ordered around.

"Obviously, a pirate is more suited to dig things up from dirt," the other shrugged.

The thinly veiled insult was not missed. However, rather than fight about it, Motochika knelt and started to move the soft earth aside with his hands. Mori, in the meanwhile, stood by impatiently. After a few moments, the purple pirate held up a small wooden box, which he then had to yank out of the smaller man's reach.

"What are you doing? I dug it up, so I should be the one to know what's inside of it first!"

"Like a child," Motonari rolled his eyes. "Hurry up and open it!"

Motochika chuckled to himself in triumph as he carefully lifted the lid to reveal the fruit of his labor. Finding a rolled parchment, he dropped the box onto the ground. Of course, Mori started to reach, but being the taller man, it was easy for him to hold what was clearly a map away from the daimyo in green.

"There's treasure! I'll tell you what, Mori. We'll split it, me and you."

"Of course," Mori even smiled a little, but he was not as sincere as he was playing to be. He would cooperate with the pirate, or rather he would allow him to do all of the work in locating the treasure. Then, if it was something good, he would take it all for himself and leave Chosokabe high and dry.

Such plans look great on paper. However, neither of the men had any idea of what they were in for.

His smile faded entirely as a heavy arm settled around his shoulders, and Chosokabe's face was suddenly near his ear.

"Yup, it will be an adventure—just you and me, Mori! You'll get a taste of the pirate's life!"

"I'm thrilled," Motonari said as he ducked away from the other's arm. Of course, his voice said otherwise. Still, Motochika's enthusiasm didn't waver.

"Alright, let's get started!"

Chosokabe took the lead and Mori followed with a small smirk. Just as planned. Let the dumb pirate do all of the work. Pretending to enjoy the adventure would be a small hassle compared to the reward, or so he thought, anyway. He had still yet to consider what the so called treasure could be in the first place.

Their path took many twists and turns through the thick gathering of trees and other plants. A few birds were disturbed here and there, which reminded Mori of that ridiculous looking bird that was usually with the pirate. Where was that thing, anyway? What was their kidnapper's goal in stripping them of their weapons, armor, and the bird? Why a treasure hunt? Really, was Maeda Keiji trying to make the pair bond through a childish game like this? How typical of him.

The passing of time was hard to mark, but it seemed to the self-proclaimed child of the sun that about an hour passed before the duo came upon a lagoon. While Mori hung back to watch, Chosokabe went to the water's edge and knelt, dipping both of his gloved hands inside to ladle some of the clear liquid to his mouth. This was consumed with an undignified slurp and then followed by a loud belch.

"It's freshwater. Have some Mori," the pirate turned to the other man, insistent.

Well, after all of that walking, he was a bit parched. Thus, Motonari joined his rival at the bank with no complaint and knelt to scoop up some of the water into his own hands. It was indeed free of the sea's salt, but there was a slightly funny taste to it.

Seeing the expression on the other's face, Motochika rolled his eye. He wasn't stupid, of course, and had realized that the other man was making him do all of the work and likely planning to try to make off with all of the treasure. He wouldn't let Mori get away with it at all, but still, he was trying his best to make the most of this situation and be friendly.

"I realize it's not water from Aki…"

"Not at all," Mori grumbled as he drank another handful. Unbeknownst to Motochika, he was really not trying to go out of his way to be a nag, as it seemed. The water really did taste funny to him, but then, he was truly used to drinking either sake or water from the supply in his homeland.

"Well, I think we should keep moving, so if you've quenched your thirst there, Mori, let's go."

**Now** the daimyo wanted to be difficult, and so he took a third and a fourth handful of the water, even though he didn't like the taste and was no longer thirsty. It was simply of matter of not allowing himself to be ordered around. He would go when he was ready.

Once he was satisfied with himself, he pressed a fist to his mouth to silence his belch. Then smirked to himself as he started to walk again. The pirate was clearly annoyed enough to roll his eye, though he said nothing in favor of being off on their way.

Fifteen minutes of silent travel passed before Motochika slowed his pace to walk closer to the other man. In truth, he really did not want to do this. However, he was a social creature by nature and used to the constant rowdiness of his crew. Thus, it could be said that he was a bit desperate for conversation, even if it meant having one with his enemy.

"Mori, what do you think Keiji has in mind for us?"

"Hmph, you're are foolish as he if you can't figure that out on your own," huffing, Motonari crossed his arms.

"You think that anyone who isn't named Mori Motonari is a fool," the pirate fired back.

"And so they are," Mori shrugged.

"You're going to die alone, Mori," Motochika shook his head. "Alone and surrounded by cats. Not even your grandchildren will visit you."

Motonari immediately turned smug, "This is good for me. I don't like children and I don't like cats, so if you would leave that out of your fantasy of my death."

"You deserve to be as miserable as you make others. There are cats in my version of your death."

"Hmph, how childish," Motonari turned up his nose.

While that signified a victory for Motochika, he realized that it was still a sort of loss. The conversation was over and now the silence had returned. Cursing his luck, he wondered how anyone could end up so aloof and cold. Mori was apparently incapable of even casual conversation without hurling insults. Did he have any friends or anyone that he trusted at all? Even the warriors of his clan were expendable to him, so it was likely that he did not. Such an existence seemed sad to the warm hearted and friendly pirate. With this in mind, he was sure that he knew what Keiji was hoping for. It was just unfortunate that Chosokabe didn't believe it could happen.

Mori was capable of managing long periods of silence because he was such an introverted man and a deep thinker, at that. Unfortunately, there was not much to ponder beyond the jungle and their possible destination. He did wonder what sort of treasure they would find and whether it would be something useful. Knowing Maeda, it was probably going to be some cliché, sentimental garbage that symbolized friendship or something like that. What a waste of time that would be.

Within the hour, the duo reached a clearing and stepped from the jungle onto the white sand of another beach. Ahead of them was a single house, which appeared to be abandoned. Staring at it, Chosokabe checked the map and then stopped to scratch his head.

"Well, Mori, I think we're supposed to go here."

"What? Give me it."

The pirate didn't fight at all when the map was snatched from him. He was too busy trying to figure out this new development. In the meantime, Mori narrowed his eyes as his finger retraced their trail exactly to this domicile. Really, he should have given Chosokabe's navigational skills more credit, but then, he was almost desperate.

"The treasure must be in the house," the man in purple reasoned.

"Yes, of course. Either the treasure or Maeda Keiji." Thrusting the map against the pirate's chest, Motonari rushed for the house and let himself inside through the sliding door. Naturally, he found no Keiji, but he did find a table with a gourd of sake and a small box. Opening the latter, he found a letter, which he scowled upon reading.

"What is it?" Motochika had caught up quickly and now noticed the other's discontent. Not a single word was said as the paper was thrust into his face. Taking it in both hands, the pirate began to read aloud. "Chosokabe-kun and Mori-kun, I know you are very confused about what is happening, but I ask that you please trust me. In this house, I have left enough supplies for the two of you to live comfortably for the next few weeks. I know it seems impossible, but…"

"FOOL," Motonari cut in as he grabbed the paper and balled it up to throw into a corner. "Obviously, he believes that our disputes will be resolved this way. I haven't the time for this."

With the paper so rudely taken for him, Motochika knelt before a crate and popped it open to find it filled with various supplies. From it, he pulled a box of rice balls and started to eat, leaving his partner in this weird game to rant to an audience that wasn't listening.

Once he realized that he was being ignored, Mori settled down and took a rice ball for himself. Come to think of it, this would be his first meal of the day. He might as well try to enjoy it. It didn't even occur to him that he sat on the floor right next to his rival. Honestly, he was too hungry to care.

"So we are stuck here for weeks like this," he sighed mostly to himself.

"We are," the pirate nodded. "I wonder which of us will kill the other in his sleep."

Mori narrowed his eyes and moved away from his rival, "You're serious… It's going to be a long night for you, Chosokabe. I will be awake, watching you!"

[AN: It was only a matter of time before I wrote a Sengoku Basara fic. There we go!]


	2. Chapter 2

It turned out that Mori was wrong about it being a long night for Chosokabe. On the contrary, he was the one to experience a night that did not seem as though it would end. To begin with, there was not much at all to be done for entertainment. They had gone through the supplies that Keiji had left them, but there wasn't a single thing in there to read or play with. It was all necessities, including changes of clothing.

While grumbling about how the Maeda vagabond was just another useless person, Motonari had picked out one of the two futons in the house for himself and settled down on it to meditate. That kept him busy for quite a while, as did a walk shortly after.

Things would have been bearable if it weren't for the fact that a bored Motochika meant that the pirate would talk, talk, talk, even if no one was listening. He went on about his adventures at sea, his life, his dreams, his goals, and everything else that the other man couldn't care less about.

Finally, some hours after dark, Chosokabe crawled onto his futon and shut his one eye to go to sleep. This left Motonari rather perplexed. Was it really that simple for the pirate to fall asleep? It couldn't have been! Of course, it was just a ruse to lure the other man into a false sense of security. He would not fall for it. Thus, it was a very long night for him, indeed.

Some hours before dawn, Chosokabe awakened and went outside to relieve himself. Truthfully, he had all but forgotten that Mori was there with him. However, he remembered when, upon returning to the house from the bushes, he found the other man asleep while sitting up with his back against the wall.

"Oi, Mori…" Trailing off, the pirate rubbed the back of his head as he stared at the sight before him. He hadn't expected the other man to take his little joke so seriously, but then he should have known better.

For a few moments, he just stood there watching the other sleep and being unsure of what he should do. What did come to mind was how Mori looked like a totally different person than he did when he was awake. Something about that sleeping face didn't seem as though it should belong to someone who was cold hearted, cruel, and calculating. He looked…

"Oi," Motochika spoke aloud before the thought could finish itself. Going over to the futon, he gently took the smaller man by his shoulders and lowered him towards the pillows. Just before the body touched, however, a hand shot up and grabbed for the pirate's throat.

"What are you doing?" The voice of an obviously very tired man asked.

"Just shut up and lay down, Mori. No one is going to kill you tonight."

"Oh good, I'm… too tired… to kill you…"

His hand first relaxed and then slipped away from Motochika's throat. Then Mori was fast asleep again almost as soon as his head touched the pillow. It had been an interesting moment, though, that the Demon of the Western Seas would reflect on as he settled into his own bed once more. Something about that confession of being tired had been endearing in its own odd way. Still, there was no point in dwelling on it, was there? Once Mori was awake, he would go back to being his perpetually crabby self.

"Hmph, little bastard," cracking half of a smile, Motochika closed his eye and went back to sleep.

He awakened some hours later and stretched with a loud grunt. Then he immediately went for the food, finding on the way that Mori had gone off somewhere. The empty futon did not surprise him much. One thing he knew about his rival was that he liked to be outside in the sun as much as possible.

They had quite a few rice balls left. Clearly, that had been a one-time treat, given as a sort of peace offering or condolence for this entire incident. As delicious as they were- and they were very—Chosokabe felt that nothing in the world could make up for being stuck with Mori Motonari for weeks.

"Where is that little bastard, anyway?" Taking two of the rice balls, Chosokabe went outside and started for the nearby shore area.

Under any other circumstances, he might have enjoyed being housed right on his very own white sand beach. He would try to make the most of things now, but he knew it would be difficult, thanks to the person he found sitting on the sand near the surf.

Mori appeared to be deeply lost in thought as he nibbled at a rice ball and stared down into the water. Not wanting to bother him too much, the pirate settled beside him and started to eat in silence. He had told all of the good stories he could think of, anyway. Perhaps the quiet would do them both good.

Now that he was settled on the ground, Chosokabe could see what had caught the other's attention. There was tiny little fish swimming in the shallow water right in front of the pair. So there was something in the world that the brat liked after all. Who would have guessed?

"I never knew that you liked fish, Mori."

"They're quiet, easy to care for, and delicious to eat once they're dead," the other man shrugged.

Chosokabe was about to make an unfavorable remark on the other man's disposition, but Mori surprised him into silence by breaking off pieces of his food and dropping it in little bits onto the surface of the water. For a few moments, all the astonished man could do was blink and watch the little fish swim to the surface in a race for the scraps. Again, he had something to say, only to find himself stunned into silence by the sight of Mori's smile. Apparently, this man really, really liked fish.

"Is that how it is?" Chosokabe finally spoke up. "Fish are the only worthy things to you?"

"Fish are expendable as well," Motonari shrugged even as he dropped more of his food into the sea.

"If that's true, why give them your food?"

Of course, there was a simple answer to this, which would quickly take away any hope that a single compassionate bone resided in the man's body. He shrugged, "I've already started to eat it, but I'm not feeling much like finishing. The food is expendable."

"Do you have any friends with that attitude?" Chosokabe rolled his eye.

Mori shrugged again, "no."

"Do you want to have friends?"

The cold hearted man paused to think on the question. What was a friend? Nothing more than someone to spend time with for entertainment. He could entertain himself just fine. He shook his head.

"Did you have friends as a child?"

Motonari stayed silent a few moments as he dropped down more of his food for the fish. He did remember one person from his childhood who would carry him on their shoulders. That person had taught him to use a sword and how to always think one step ahead of everyone else. It had been so long ago.

He stood suddenly and tossed the rest of his food to Chosokabe. "Feed the fish. I'm going to have a nap."

The pirate was left behind to stare as Mori trudged through the sand, back towards the house. Once he had stepped inside, he put a hand to his mouth and closed his eyes for a few moments. He had awakened to this unsettled feeling in his stomach, and it had persisted to the point where he could barely eat. Now it felt as though the few bites he had taken of his breakfast were all about to come right back up. It was troubling, but he was sure that this situation would pass after a little rest. Thus, he went over to his futon to lie down.

"Yes, I didn't rest well last night," he reminded himself as he curled up. "Napping will help the hours pass quickly."

Shutting his eyes, he willed himself to ignore the slight churning sensations of his stomach and thought of peaceful things, such as basking through his gardens in the full glory of the sun. It worked, for soon, he was out like a light.

He was unsure of how long he had slept, but when he awakened again, it was to a highly enticing scent, which traveled on the breeze blowing into the house through an open door. Sitting up, he put a hand to his forehead and shut his eyes again to fight back the nausea. It was a bit stronger now, which meant that the nap hadn't helped at all. He stood and found that he felt slightly dizzy as well, though he could manage to force himself into walking as normal. Doing so, he walked outside to find Motochika sitting in the sand before a fire and a large fish roasting on a spit.

"Tch, what are you doing?"

"Oi, Mori! You're awake!" As he called out to him, the pirate lifted a bared muscular arm to wave.

At some point during the so called sun child's nap, Chosokabe had bathed and changed into the spare clothes that Keiji had sent. Being something of a show off when it came to his body, he was only wearing one of the wide sleeves while the other dangled uselessly. Of course, he had grabbed the purple garment. It was obviously his favorite color. Mori had noted that long ago, but thinking on it now, he rolled his eyes.

"Clearly, you have roasted this fish in some attempt to upset me. If that is your aim, not only have you failed, but you're ironically going against the useless game of your useless friend."

As Motonari folded his arms, Motochika reached up to rub at his white hair. What could he say here? Bickering constantly with the rival clan leader was bound to get old sooner or later, seeing as how they were stuck together for an indefinite amount of time. It was just his nature to try doing the friendly thing. Mori **had **said that he liked to eat fish, and so he had thought that catching a fresh one for him might appease the sun brat a little.

"If you don't want to eat it, that's fine with me," the white haired man crossed his arms and turned his head away. The gesture was actually meant to mimic the stubborn brunette. If he couldn't be friends with the other man, he might as well enjoy teasing him to no end. "Yea, don't eat it. I don't think you're worthy of sharing it with, anyway."

"What?" Motonari huffed. "You say and do the most childish things! I will eat your ridiculous fish, only because I know that you will never shut up if I don't!"

"No, no. Go on inside and eat the dried fish that Keiji sent for us. You are not worthy to eat the fish that I, the Demon of the Western Seas, caught by my own cleverness."

"Your cleverness, ha! Any idiot can catch a fish!"

"Oh, can they?" Turning back to his rival, Chosokabe's blue eye gleamed as he smiled at him in challenge. Leaning to his side, he pulled up a piece of wood that had been sharpened with a knife to become a crude spear. "Show me, oh great Mori Motonari, child of the sun, how you catch fish. It should be easy for you, yes? Obviously, you can do anything because you're the sun's divine jack ass."

"Hm, why should I go and catch a fish?" Smirking, Mori threw the pole back at Chosokabe. "Clearly, I have you, the _genius_ of the Western Seas, to do it for me."

"Like hell you do!" The stick was thrown back. "I've told you already that I am not sharing with you!"

"So childish," Mori caught the make-shift spear and snapped it over his knee. "I don't want it anyway."

"You bastard…"

"Hmph," the smaller man laughed to himself as he watched his rival seethe with the anger that he had caused.

In truth, Motonari was relieved that the other man no longer wanted to share the fish. Although it did smell quite appetizing, he felt like his stomach couldn't handle it. The argument had also zapped some of his energy, and so he sat down on the sand and drew his knees up, meaning to sit there quietly since the only alternative was sleeping more.

"Only you could turn something friendly into an argument," Motochika grumbled.

Really, he wanted to go over and throttle the other man. However, Mori's mention of Keiji got him thinking of how hard the wanderer tried to spread peace and goodwill. He had once risked his life and limbs in order to get the neighbors to work together for the good of their country. Now he was risking quite a beating to get the two to become friends. Chosokabe did think of Keiji as a good friend and ally. He could try harder with Mori for his friend's sake.

"Oi, Mori. Have some of the fish. I wanted to do something nice for you. I didn't mean what I said about you not being worthy. It's just that you piss me off pretty badly."

"What a pathetic apology," Mori rolled his eyes. "I don't want any."

"Now who is being childish?" the pirate snarked. "Well, how about this? If you don't have any, I will keep asking you to have some until you do. It will ruin your precious quiet!"

"You bastard…" One of the hazel-brown eyes twitched as he looked to Motochika. It seemed he had no choice but to eat the fish now. "Fine. When your ridiculous fish is done, I will eat it with you."

"Good! It will be done soon!"

Grumbling, Motonari put his head on his knees and shut his eyes. Perhaps if he ate only a little, he would be alright. It would be good for him to try, anyway, as he needed to keep his strength up. He couldn't afford for his enemy to see even a moment of vulnerability.

But what was going on with his stomach, he wondered. It could not have been poisoning. His symptoms had started off slight before gradually worsening. Were it poison, he would have been long dead by now. Clearly, he was ill, but he was not sure of what the cause might have been. Well, it would be fine, he told himself. He'd had his share of upset stomach incidents in the past. The vagabond had sent them tea as well. Motonari would drink some of that and all would be right soon enough.

"What a strange little man," Chosokabe remarked to himself as he watched the other suddenly stand and go inside.

He thought that Mori had suddenly changed his mind about the fish, but he was entirely wrong. The rival daimyo soon returned with everything needed to make tea and dropped it on the pirate.

"I want tea as well."

"Does it say servant on my forehead?" Motochika fired back as he moved the items aside. The nerve of this man! He had already caught and cooked Mori's damned dinner for him. Now he was demanding more when he had even been grateful for the first part of it? "Make your own tea."

"Fine," Mori huffed. "I will do it myself, useless person."

Unfortunately, he had never made his own tea a day in his life. How hard could it be, though? You just added water to the pot along with the leaves and set it to boil, yes? Taking the items back from Chosokabe, he added fresh water from their supplies and the tea leaves to the pot. Then he set it near the fire so that the heat would cause the water to start boiling. Proud of himself, he sat back and smirked at his rival, who nodded.

"So you aren't just a pampered little prince. Here, I thought you didn't know how to do it yourself."

Mori did not say a word, but he was quite surprised at how right his rival was. Well, Chosokabe didn't need to know that he had made a good guess. It would be just another thing for the pirate to keep talking about.

"Oi, Mori, let's eat!" Motochika said after about five minutes of silence. Drawing a knife, he went over to the fish and ran it through, cutting off a generous slice of the meat and putting it into a bowl for the other man.

Motonari nodded as he took this offered food and then sat down. To his surprise, it was actually good.

"Hmm," he purred with delight as he continued to eat.

Motochika's chest puffed with pride as he took some of the fish for himself and sat across the way from his rival. "You see, Mori, I'm an excellent cook as well as being a handsome inventor and Demon of the Western Seas. I wear many hats. If you would let me, though, I could cook for you more."

"Well, you would actually be useful for something if you did."

In spite of his upset stomach, Motonari held out his bowl at this point for more fish. Though the praise also had an insult in it, the pirate was more than happy to put aside his own dinner long enough to serve more for his fellow diner. Once that had been taken care of, Motochika resumed his seat and held up a cup. "Do you mind if I had some of your tea?"

By some miracle, the good mood had caught on, and so now it was Motonari's turn to sit his meal aside. He found a towel to wrap around the looped handle of the tea kettle so that he would not burn his hands. Then, much to his neighbor's surprise, he poured the other man's cup first before filling his own.

"But it is so weak," he admitted with a frown after he'd had a sip. "What have I done wrong?"

"It could have been that the tea didn't steep long enough," Motochika shrugged. "Or perhaps you didn't use enough tea leaves. Tea making is such a delicate process— like a ritual."

"Hm, a ritual," Mori repeated softly. "Perhaps you should teach me."

The words were so surprising that Motochika hadn't even believed he had heard them. Raising his brow, he looked to the other man, who was casually sipping from his cup as though he hadn't said a word.

"What did you say?"

"Forget about it," Motonari rolled his eyes. "I hate repeating myself."

"Well no. It's just that…" Unsure of what to say now, the pirate reached up to rub at his white hair again. Mori was a strange little man, indeed. It would definitely take more than a few weeks to completely understand him, if such a thing were even possible. "I could teach you if you really want to learn. It's very useful to know."

"Well, since it is a useful skill, I'll learn it from you," Mori smiled a little into his tea cup, but then he sat it on the ground and stood up before starting to walk towards the house again. "I'm going to sleep now. Don't make noise."

"Sleep again?" Even if this man was his enemy and a cold hearted bastard, at that, Motochika could not help but feel slightly concerned. "Oi, Mori, are you feeling alright? Do you always sleep so much?"

"It's none of your business," the other man answered coldly and resumed walking.

"Wait for me! I will come and sit with you."

It really was a kind gesture. How foolish. Mori turned around and glared coldly in response to it. "I don't need you or anyone to sit with me, so leave me alone."

Without waiting for a response, he hurried to the house and laid down, curling up into a ball as he shut his eyes. Curse his stomach. He wanted nothing more than to void his dinner all over the ground outside. But he couldn't because Chosokabe would see and know that he had become ill. He didn't want that man's pretend pity and kindness. Not at all. All he wanted was to be left alone. He would recover just fine on his own. He would.

He told himself that everything was fine. It was just a small upset stomach issue that would clear up soon enough with rest. That was why he felt so tired, so weak, and so cold…

Meanwhile, outside, Chosokabe continued to eat more of the fish and drink tea alone. How boring all of this was, but he felt that he might as well give up on having a companion here. No matter how hard he tried, Mori was just too cold of a bastard to be a friend or even keep up polite conversation. The other man would much rather sleep.

With a long sigh, he suddenly threw what was left of his tea towards the fire. It was no good, anyway. That little sun brat was horrible at making tea. He was too damn used to everyone doing everything for him. That damn brat. Leaning back, Motochika realized that he was worried. Was that brat going to be alright…?

(AN: Well, Mori's a sick little sun brat. I don't think it's likely that they would have been able to figure out exactly what made him sick, especially with no doctors around, so I'll go ahead and say what it is. He drank about four handfuls of that water that tasted funny. It wasn't poisoned, but full of bacteria that has made him sick. He probably would have been fine if he hadn't drank so much, but since he decided to be a brat and drink more, he's sick. Karma.)


	3. Chapter 3

He knew it to be a very bad sign whenever his dreams made absolutely no sense whatsoever. When everything was alright, they mixed elements of his day to day life with his goals, aspirations, fears, and other concerns. Sure, there might have been the occasional impossible element or implausible event, but the point was that his dreams were normally coherent. The dreams Motonari had after leaving Chosokabe that night were anything but.

If asked to describe them, the first thing that would come to Motonari's mind to mention would be the colors. Then there were the voices. These are the things that he remembered most. There were so many vibrant colors and each one had the voice of someone he knew. All of them were shouting at him, demanding things of him or cursing him for things he had done wrong. His body felt as though it was on fire, and his head was aching so badly, while his stomach caused him terrible pain. It was just too much for him. Yet it persisted to a point where he ended up crying out, "Make it stop!"

There was a feeling as though he was floating and then he saw purple all around him. Somehow, he knew who this color represented even before it spoke to him in a soothing tone, telling him that everything was going to be alright.

"You're burning up with fever," that voice told him. "You have to rest and don't scream anymore. You'll make yourself sicker."

All of the other voices stopped and then there was complete darkness. He couldn't see the purple one, but Motonari could feel that he was safe in the other's arms. There was the slight scent of something rancid nearby, but this was mostly masked by the scent of tea and something cooking. Gradually, it all began to make sense, but the ill young man could do very little with the knowledge.

"Sleep," he was ordered again, and so he did while clinging to the one who had saved him from his nightmares.

It was all a dream, was it not? But why had it been that person to save him? Why had the sound of that person's voice given him so much comfort? Why did it feel as though nothing could hurt him as long as those arms were there?

An answer came to him in the form of his own voice, speaking from the color green, as he had yet another of those insane dreams.

"It was the only voice that tried to comfort you…"

At least that made sense to him, but he did not understand why that person would care to comfort him in the first place. They were not friends. They were bitter rivals- enemies. Yet the other had been so tender. Why?

"Chosokabe!"

Feeling a hand being pressed to his forehead, the ill man suddenly reached out and gripped it. Were he healthy, it would have been powerful enough to cause slight pain. In his current condition, however, the grip was very weak.

"Oi, Mori," the pirate's voice answered.

Motonari slowly opened his eyes and looked, with blurred vision, to the pirate, who was seated on the floor next to his futon. The light coming in through the house's windows was quite dim, signifying that evening was coming along. Yet, it had been evening by the time he had laid down, had it not? He could barely remember.

"Mori, I'm glad you're ok," Chosokabe broke into his thoughts. "You had me worried, especially all those times you were screaming and crying."

"Am I ill?"

It was such a stupid question. Of course he was ill! His head was pounding so much that it caused his eyes to ache. There were dull pains in his stomach, and while he felt so very thirsty, he wasn't sure that the rumbling would allow him to keep anything down. He tried to sit up and found that he didn't really have the strength. Looking to his body, he saw part of the reason why. Every blanket in the house and even some clothing items were piled on top of him. It was all so heavy that in his weakened state, he could barely move it. Yes, a very dumb question it was, indeed.

"You have been for the past three days now," his apparent caretaker answered in that same soothing tone. "It's been a real pain taking care of you too. Cleaning up your puke's not been a fun time."

"Three days," Motonari repeated. The fact that Chosokabe had been given a difficult time went straight to the back of his mind. For now, the sick man was more concerned with the fact that nearly half of a week had gone by without him being aware of it or even himself. "Three days…"

Motochika sighed as he pulled a cloth from a nearby bowl and placed it on the other man's forehead. He was tired and annoyed by the fact that Mori was being an ingrate, as usual. But there was a certain amount of pride in knowing that he had at least kept the man alive and helped him reach a point of being coherent again.

Oh, had it been a very long three days for the pirate, and it had all begun late the other night. He had again gone outside to take care of personal business. As he was heading back in, he noticed Mori stumbling towards the water. At first he thought nothing of it, but when Motonari had gone knee deep, fallen, and not made any effort to get up or swim, the pirate had known that something was very wrong. He had run to the other's man rescue and found him burning with fever. Mori was shaking all over and had gone pale. In that moment, Chosokabe knew that he had to help him, rival or not.

"Hm, but what of all my efforts now," he sighed to himself as he leaned forward and shut his eye.

"Your efforts?" the sun brat asked.

"Nothing," Chosokabe yawned and then he flopped right next to Mori on the futon, further pinning him down, since his heavy body was now lying on top of all of those cloths. "The fever is going away. I think you're going to be alright. Just hope it's not one of those diseases where you're going to be weak the rest of your life."

"You would hope for something like that to happen to me," Mori answered bitterly as he tried to move away from his rival. Unfortunately, he was too weak to do even that. Curse this illness, whatever it was. Furthermore, curse Maeda Keiji. If it weren't for this foolish game, Motonari could have been under the care of a physician instead of a ruffian.

"Well, Mori, I'm too exhausted to argue. Think what you will."

For once, Motonari was speechless, and this was mostly due to the fact that Motochika did sound exhausted. Had caring for him really been so much of a physical strain? It must have been, but that left the sun brat wondering why his rival had gone through so much trouble. If things had been the other way around, poor Motochika would have been left to die slowly. Cruel, though it was, this was fact. Motonari saw them as bitter enemies… until now.

Turning as much as he could under all of his blankets, he looked at the other man's face, finding that the skin under his single visible eye had darkened from lack of sleep. Now there was no denying the lengths that this supposed bitter enemy had gone to. For the first time in a long while, Mori's heart was touched.

"Chosokabe?" he called to the other man.

There was something he wanted to say right now—something which he hadn't to anyone since childhood. However, he found that the pirate was fast asleep.

"You're being foolish, anyway," Mori spoke softly. "We both know that I'll backstab you the first chance that I get…"

But even as he made this remark, the daimyo had moved closer to the other man. Laying his head on Motochika's outstretched arm, Motonari closed his eyes and went to sleep.

He awakened some hours later to the feeling of someone tapping his hand. The first thing he noticed was that he was ravenously hungry. After that, he looked up to realize that his rival was kneeling before him with a cup of something that definitely smelled like food.

"What is it?" he asked as he reached out to take the offering.

"Fish broth," Motochika smiled at him a little. "I found medicines that Keiji sent for different things. There is something in there for fevers. I have to hide it in the broth because you don't like it."

"I don't?" Mori raised his brow before sipping the broth. There was indeed a bitter after taste, which caused him to grimace.

"You spit it all over me when I tried to make you take it without the broth."

"W-well…" His cheeks turned red as he looked away and sipped more of his broth. "T-thank you, Chosokabe."

"It's fine, Mori!" Chosokabe sounded cheerful again, and for some reason, Mori was glad to hear it.

He remained silent, though, as he finished up his broth and then handed the cup back. Chosokabe took it without a word and went off to wash it. Motonari had thought that the other man would return after that. However, he didn't. Much to his rival's disappointment, Motochika went outside.

For his part, the pirate did not think at all that Mori would care for his company, and he needed a few moments to himself, besides. That sun brat had been a nightmare to deal with—a real pain in the butt. It was true that he had spat medicine all over his caretaker. He had also thrown up on Chosokabe, himself, and everything else multiple times. On top of that, there had been the screaming at all hours of the night, and one detail that had been left out.

As he stared up at the stars, the pirate wondered what Mori would say if this last detail had been mentioned. Knowing him, he would likely say something cold or try to pretend that it didn't matter. But during the time when his fevers were at his worse, it had mattered and it had broken the pirate's heart every time he awakened to find that the sick man had somehow gotten into a corner, where he curled up and cried out for his elder brother.

The mass of blankets weren't just for Mori's chills. Using some of the cloths, Chosokabe had literally tied him down to prevent him from wandering off as he had done the day he nearly drowned. That was another detail the sun brat didn't really need to know. Since he was doing much better, Chosokabe had untied him before waking him for food.

"Little bastard," the pirate smiled to himself. Yes, it had been a nightmare to care for Mori while he was sick, but if he had it to do over, he would with no hesitation.

Standing up, Chosokabe peeked into the house before entering all of the way. His sick charge was sleeping again, which was good for him. At the same time, it was just a bit disappointing. The days had been long with no one to talk to, and Motochika was growing homesick for his crew. Even when he was healthy, Motonari wasn't good company. He was too quiet and too condescending when he did talk. Besides, he didn't want to keep company with a pirate. Why did knowing that bother him so much?

"And you're so beautiful when you sleep, little son of a bitch," Chosokabe sighed as he leaned against the doorframe. Over the past three days, he had seen enough of sleeping Mori to have come to that conclusion and another. "…turning into a fool over you… You just had to go and get sick. Tch. Pain in the ass."

Since there was nothing else to do, Motochika went to his bed and laid down in the hopes of sleeping. Unfortunately, he could not, thanks to the feeling in the pit of his stomach. It wasn't illness. How nice it would have been were that the case. Because of it, he tossed and turned and turned and tossed. At the slightest noise from Mori's bed, he would lift his head and look over. Yet the sun brat remained sleeping and didn't awaken again for the rest of the night.

Chosokabe told himself that evening that he needed to get over it. Turning into mush over Mori Motonari could not end well at all when the other man didn't even want his company. How could there being any hope of his feelings being reciprocated by someone as cold as to call his own men "sacrificial pawns"? Yes, he would get over it. It was just a stupid crush brought on by pitying a sick person he had cared for. It would pass.

To be sure that it did, from that night on, Chosokabe was cold in his dealings with Mori. He still brought him food and made sure that the other took his medication, but that was it. No longer did he try to start friendly conversations, and he often left him alone while he went for walks or to fish.

On the third night that this happened, Motonari stared at the doorway in silence and then slumped down in bed. His stomach no longer had pains in it, but there was a new sensation that he didn't like. It was difficult to describe, but he knew what was causing it. He felt this way every time Chosokabe left him alone.

"It all changed so suddenly," he sighed to himself as he picked at his blankets. "Well, I should be grateful for the quiet, but…"

He didn't want to be alone. It made sense, didn't it? He was a Daimyo, used to being surrounded by people who were always ready to jump at his every need, want, or desire. He loved quiet, but not like this. He didn't want to be left with only his thoughts for hours on end.

And there was something more to it, wasn't there? That something saw him wobbling to his feet the next morning. Again, he had awakened to find himself alone. It was no longer a rare occurrence in the mornings that had passed. If he sat tight about an hour, Chosokabe would show up with food, ask him if he felt any better, and then leave again. No more. Mori wouldn't put up with being ignored any longer.

The kimono that Chosokabe had dressed the ill man in was too long for him, but Mori was too stubborn to be stopped by this minor detail or anything else. As he walked with shaky steps, it dragged along the sand and collected it in the train. He didn't care. His head felt rather swimmy and his muscles were still weak. He didn't care. At least the stomach pain and the fever had gone. It was just a matter of getting his strength back. To that end, taking this walk was good for him.

As he neared the shore, he could see that Motochika was waist deep in the water, holding up one of those makeshift spears. Now that he arrived, Mori paused and put both hands to his chest. Why wouldn't his heart stop beating so fast? Was it due to his weakened state? Yes. That had to be it. He should have been in bed resting, but he didn't care. His clothes were going to be wet, but what did it matter?

With fierce determination, Motonari walked right out into the water, the sounds of his splashing of course drawing Motochika's attention. Confused at first by the noise, the white haired man turned and his face showed bewilderment.

"Mori, what are you…?"

At that moment, the smaller man had gotten close, but the waves were a bit strong for someone who was already quite unsteady on his feet. He fell towards the pirate, and the stick was abandoned as strong arms darted out to catch him. Their eyes met, but it was not the moment of silence that usually occurs in these situations. Motochika shook his head.

"What are you doing out of bed?"

"I am doing better, and I'm tired of sleeping," He sounded fussy, but what could Motonari do? He did not want to add on the truth. It wasn't in him to say, "I wanted to be where you are."

"Mori…" Chosokabe started in a stern tone. He was trying his hardest to remain cold. Yet, the sun brat was making it highly difficult.

"Chosokabe," his hazel-brown eyes dared the pirate to defy him. Imagine his surprise when Chosokabe suddenly knelt and put the smaller man on his shoulder. "What are you doing? Put me down!"

Kicking his legs, he leaned over and wrapped both arms around the taller man's head. He hadn't been picked up in years. Thus, this was odd for him now, and not something that he was enjoying.

Without a word, Chosokabe walked back to the house and laid the smaller man down on his futon. "STAY!"

"I'm not a dog that will listen to whatever you say, damn pirate!" Motonari was angry now. How dare Chosokabe pick him up, first of all? Then ordering him to stay? Oh no, he was not going to take this lying down. Being the stubborn brat that he was, he sat up first and then tried to stand, only to be pushed back down. "Stop it…"

Another man might have felt chills at the dark tone of Mori's voice and the way that his eyes narrowed. Chosokabe was undaunted, and when the smaller man tried to sit up again, he pushed him right back down. Mori's eyes narrowed even further as he sat up again. The result was more of the same, and this repeated several times before Motochika finally grabbed the other man's wrists and pinned him down.

For a few moments all Motonari could do was lay there and try to catch his breath from this exertion. It wasn't at all surprising that Motochika was physically stronger than him. The pirate's weapon was a ship's anchor on a pole. That said a lot. What was bewildering was the fact that excitement was pulsing through the smaller man's veins and causing his crotch to stir.

As arousing as the situation was, however, it was ridiculous. They were both acting like children.

"Chosokabe, please," Motonari spoke softly and shut his eyes. "Why are you torturing me?"

"Why won't you lie down?" Chosokabe answered, trying to keep his tone as cold as possible. It was working too. He could see it. So the little brat didn't like it when others were cold to him. Motochika thought it was hypocritical because he did not realize how deep that truth went—that Mori did not like it when **Chosokabe** was being cold, specifically.

"I don't like being told what to do," Motonari answered. That was the truth, but not at all what his heart wanted him to say. Annoyed with it all, he turned his head away.

"Fine, do what you want, little brat." Letting Mori's wrists go, Motochika stood and started to leave.

It took a few minutes to realize that it was happening, but once Motonari realized that he was being left alone, he was on his feet and after the pirate. Motochika didn't expect it at all, but suddenly arms were around him from behind as he felt someone fall against him.

"Mori…?"

"I tripped. Shut up."

"You don't want me to leave you!" In spite of everything, the pirate's face erupted into a big, stupid grin. Turning, he helped Mori stand and then broke out laughing at his glare. "You little son of a bitch, you're attached to me!"

"W-what? NO!" As hard as he was denying it, there was nothing he could do to stop his cheeks from turning bright red. "It's just… I'm bored, alright? Stop smiling at me. I hate the way your face looks when you smile."

"Sure you do," Motochika laughed. He was in such a good mood that he couldn't help but to hoist Mori onto his shoulder again, and when the other hugged his head, he had to fight against the tremble that went through his body.

"You had better not drop me, you idiot. I don't like this…" Yet, he found himself smiling as Chosokabe started to walk away from the house. In fact, his heart felt so light, that he was willing to admit to one thing. "Chosokabe?"

Still smiling himself as he headed towards the shore, the pirate answered, "hm?"

"I think I would like to give you the honor of becoming my friend."

"The honor, huh?" Motochika laughed. "I would like that, though, Mori. It really would be an honor to be your friend."


	4. Chapter 4

Of course this was ridiculous. Yes, Motonari had taken a little stumble and seemed so… endearing in doing so, but could that one moment really smooth over everything: the lack of gratitude, the demeaning words, and the years of bitter rivalry? Motochika had to wander how and why he was falling for this so easily. He knew Motonari too well. That offer of friendship was sweet- so much so that the pirate smiled the entire way to the shore. But, he was not the idiot that Motonari believed him to be. Because of this, he questioned how long it could last. Motonari needed him right now, but how would things change when the sick sun brat became able to care for himself once more?

Motochika did not go far out into the water—only knee deep, by his height. A ways down the beach from the house, there was a single rock jutting from the water. By the pirate's judgment, the rock was of the perfect size to store recovering brats. Motochika carried the other man to this and placed him there.

"Sit," he spoke firmly.

"Idiot pirate," Motonari rolled his eyes. "I am not a dog."

"Well, you aren't, but if you don't want to go floating away, you'll obey me."

Mori rolled his eyes as the pirate trudged back towards the shore. No matter who it was, he hated being ordered around. However, he was stuck with obeying this time. What else could he do when his options were so limited? It was either listen or return to staring at the same four walls of the house they were being forced to share.

"You're making a face like I kicked one of your puppies, there, Mori," the pirate remarked upon returning and bringing with him one of those makeshift spears of his.

"That's impossible. Something like that would make me smile."

"It's good to see that you're feeling well enough to resume with your legendary cruelty. In all honesty, the first night, I wasn't sure you were going to survive."

"Well now that would be your own fault. You could have let me died and I wouldn't have known the difference."

"Oi, Mori," the pirate rolled his eye. Sure, they were rivals and being rid of Motonari would end the trouble, regardless of death-style. However, there was honor to consider. "If you die, you bastard, I want it to be in a fight between us. Not you shaking and screaming and puking your insides out."

"Hm, it was that bad?" Of course it had to have been if he couldn't remember the events to begin with… and those dreams. Those had definitely been a sign of serious illness.

"I really thought you were gonna croak the first night, you little bastard," Motochika nodded slowly. He was not exaggerating. The fever had been impossibly high and Mori just would not stop throwing up, it seemed. Several times, his caretaker had been sure he was seeing blood in the mixture of bile and whatever Mori had eaten. "It was hard to watch, you know. Call me an idiot, but I took care of you because you don't deserve to die a suffering death like that."

"Chosokabe…" though he had said the name, Motonari was as of yet unsure of what to follow with. It was entirely not his nature to become sentimental and attached. Yet, he was truly touched in this moment.

Silent, the pirate put a hand on his hip and stood firm against a particularly strong series of waves that swept loose seaweed about his legs. At this time, he could recognize that the other had reached a crossroads, where a decision was needed. Things could continue on as they were or Mori could take a turn down a new road, and they would see where this would lead them.

"I suppose I never imagined myself thanking you for saving my life," the smaller of the two admitted and then smirked. "I also never imagined that you would be the one to take my life, to be fair."

Motochika laughed heartily and mussed the other's hair. My, it was soft. He wondered if Mori would notice if he let his hand linger.

"You sun obsessed little bastard," he chuckled. "Only you can express gratitude and hurl insults in one go."

"Well, had there been no insult at all, you would have assumed I was ill again and forced me back into bed." The green-brown eyes flickered to the single blue for just a moment before Mori looked away towards the water with a smile.

"That's exactly the way it would have gone," Motochika fought against making it obvious that his breath had just been stolen and slowly removed his hand from the other's hair.

Wait, did he just…? And had the pirate been allowed to…?

Normally, Chosokabe would say that he knew better, but obviously, they were on an entirely new path with new guides to follow. Still, every wayfarer of the seas knew that even though the destinations might change, there were still the same reliable signs along the way if one looked hard enough. When it came to sailing, there was wind direction, there was the northern star. There was the rising sun…

"Weren't you going to catch a fish," Motonari cut in to those thoughts. "I'd like to watch."

"Hu-oh!" Motochika turned away quickly as he felt the blood vessels in his cheeks starting to tighten. He certainly hadn't meant to drift off like that, especially while staring at his rival. Perhaps he was the one who needed to sit on the rock. "Pay attention, Mori. I'm going to teach you a pretty basic survival skill. I taught myself this once when I was stranded by myself for a week. Fell overboard while I was drunk."

Motonari couldn't help but to laugh and cover his mouth. "Only you, Chosokabe. Only you."

Continuing to watch with a hand over his mouth, Mori felt that he was allowed to smile. With his back turned, the pirate also wouldn't notice that his rival was watching with certain attentiveness. It was as though he was seeing Chosokabe for the first time—as though he had somehow missed the rippling muscles covered in smooth, sun-kissed skin, the obviously strong back, and those hands. Such big, strong hands he had- all the better for pinning down narrow wrists.

Frowning suddenly, Mori caressed one of his wrists with a thumb. Finding men attractive was old news to him. He, like so many youths of his era, had once been courted by an older man, and in his case, that man had been handsome and charming. Shojumaru—that had been Motonari's name before coming of age- had been showered with gifts and even poetry dedicated to his beauty. His heart had been broken when, after he'd become a man and assumed the name Motonari, his first love had abandoned him.

He wouldn't admit to how much that had affected him—so much so that it was on his mind now as he found himself becoming attached to the person who had nursed him back to health. Having such an attraction to Chosokabe was foolishness, he told himself. But even as he did so, in the back of his mind, he wondered what it would be like to have his legs splayed across those broad shoulders, while his wrists were pinned down by those hands and he was made to moan in ecstasy for a white-haired, one-eyed pirate.

"Oh Nichirin," Motonari covered his flustered face with both hands.

"Hm, are you feeling ill again?" Chosokabe turned to find his charge hiding his face.

"No, I remembered just now that I have not prayed in so long." The pious sun worshipper lied smoothly. There was actually truth in the lie anyway. He most certainly needed a prayer session after having such thoughts, and worse, feeling aroused by them. "Go back to fishing!"

"Hm…" It was strange that Mori was so upset over something like that, but Chosokabe was not going to say a word. Because of this, he actually turned in time to spot a target. "Better look now!"

"Look?" Mori uncovered his face in time to see Chosokabe throw his spear at the water.

"Alright!" The pirate cheered with a fist pump. Then he held up that sharpened stick with a dying fish struggling on it.

"That's… Chosokabe, you are pretty…"

"Amazing? Handsome? Clever?" Motochika offered a few words he would love hear.

"Whichever of those sounds closest to something I would say," Mori smirked.

"In that case, all of them!" Chosokabe beamed as he brought the fish over to lay on the rock.

"Idiot pirate," Mori rolled his eyes, though he smiled as he directed his eyes to the fish.

Chosokabe was sure in that moment that the signs were there. Still, he was mindful of the reason. They would disappear as soon as Mori regained his strength, he was sure of it. He also secretly hoped that perhaps his illness had been so bad that his strength would never recover.

Drawing a knife from his soaking wet tabi, he passed it on to Mori, who took it in delicate fingers that caressed the blade.

"I'm going to teach you how to be useful," he answered to the puzzled look that he received. The fish was placed on Mori's lap and then the catcher gestured with a single long finger along the catch's belly. "Cut along here and then stab here, just behind the gills. It'll bleed out and taste much better."

Motonari nodded and began to smile as he slide the blade of the knife along the fish's underside, effectively splitting it open. Then he jammed the knife into the area just behind the gills and watched as blood began to run down from it and towards the rock to be washed away by the tide.

"I knew you would like that, cruel son of a bitch."

Feeling his cheeks tighten, Motonari turned away from the chuckling man. "Idiot pirate. Catch another. I'm especially hungry."

Chosokabe couldn't help himself now. He had to test the water.

"I'd catch the whole sea for you, Mori."

"Idiot, stop saying weird things." A reply like that was expected of Mori Motonari, but the fact that he would not even glance at the addressee said more than words ever would.

It was stupid to feel so giddy, so said Motochika's brain. But his heart wouldn't listen to reason and instead held a thousand butterflies hostage in his stomach. There was no clever reply to give here. Apparently, his brain decided it was going on strike as revenge for being ignored.

"Whatever you say, Mori."

Just for the fun of it, Motochika caught two more fish, which were passed off to Motonari to be bled. Really, it was no surprise that the brunette was so efficient with a job like that. Watching things die was something that he apparently took delight in. However, the pirate did have to question the fact that other confessed a like for fish. Was he really the type of person who could easily kill even things that he was fond of? Why did Motochika find himself wishing to win such a heart when he could barely understand it?

"Pirate, I am tired," Motonari cut in suddenly.

The truth of those words was all over the brunette's face. His lids were steadily lowering and he looked ready to fall off of the rock into the tide. Motochika truly contemplated whether it was best just to let him, but then the brat inflicted the worse form of abuse on the pirate that was imagineable. Held out his arms to be picked up.

"Che, what am I, your palanquin now?" the pirate turned his back.

Mori rolled his eyes, "You carried me here, and so it stands to reason that you would carry me back. Was your wish for friendship with me idle talk? Or perhaps leaving an ill friend to stumble is the Chosokabe way. Enlighten me."

The fact that anyone could make the transition from absolutely adorable to absolutely bitchy so smoothly was mind boggling, but the white-haired pirate thought to himself that he had asked for it. Denying a demand from Mori was like poking a tiger with a toothache in the jaw.

"You're carrying the fish."

Too tired to argue, Motonari nodded slowly and pulled all three by the tails onto his lap.

"Come on then, Sun Brat. Try to stay awake until I put you down!" Since he could make another, Motochika left the spear behind and hoisted his rival onto his shoulder. Before they were even near the shore, however, Motonari tipped forward, nearly falling over.

"Keiji, you son of a bitch," Motochika cursed as he began to carry Motonari bridal style. Of course it was that guy's fault. If he hadn't abandoned them here, none of this would have happened. Yes, it was in the interest of peace, but damn. This was one of those crush stories that was unlikely to have a happy ending.

Entering the house, he laid Motonari down on the bed and gently yanked the fish from him. The brat was fast asleep now, but even in that state, his stubbornness was legendary. He would not drop those fish, this was apparent by how difficult it was for Motochika to get them. As he started to walk out, he was stopped by the sound of his pet name. Idiot Pirate—he might as well answer to it. He was an idiot for falling like this.

"I am going to recover, aren't I?"

The worry made him sound so vulnerable, thus appealing to the pirate's innate gentleness. Himewako-chan—that is what they called him in childhood for being such a nurturing and passive soul. Even though he was now a Demon, he couldn't help but treat people with love and affection, though it was his own rough around the edges brand. The Himewako-chan in him made him go back and over to lie next to Motonari.

"I hope that you will," he answered softly. "You're doing much better now, but I can tell that this weakened you."

"Now is a good chance to kill me… pirate…" Motonari started to turn away, but was stopped by a strong hand under his chin. His hazel eyes widened then as Chosokabe's face became closer and closer at an agonizingly slow rate.

"I'm going to kiss him. Stop me!" That was Motochika's thought, followed by a question of why Mori didn't put an end to it in some painful way. Ill, though he was, the pirate was sure that his rival had some trick up his sleeve.

"He's going to kiss me. Why do I not want to stop him?" Motonari was confused by his racing heart and sudden increase in breathing. Then there was the fact that now, his own face was moving closer.

"Chosokabe…" He would never know why he had called the other's name, but that seemed to halt all action.

"Mori," the pirate cleared his throat and stood. "Get some sleep and then I'll wake ya for dinner. Probably just need to get some food in your belly."

"Probably," the brunette nodded and cleared his throat as the pirate started to leave. Seeing the man pause, Motonari looked away. "I don't think that I would have stopped you. I am not sure why." 

Motochika's heart fluttered and he felt like he couldn't breathe. To him, this meant that he had to test again.

"Stop me from what?" He smirked, appearing cool and confident.

"Nothing," Motonari rolled his eyes and shut them. "I am sleeping now. Don't make noise."

"I won't…"

Before he could make a fool of himself again, the pirate made a grand escape. What he did not know was that thanks to his love games, Motonari felt like a fool as well…

[AN: Oh holy shit. This only took six or seven months. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! Thanks to everyone that read, reviewed, faved, and otherwise motivated me to try to keep this going. I swear I'll try to update again really, really soon]


	5. Chapter 5

Chosokabe Motochika was right about something. This was worth remembering—an event that should be marked on calendars for years to come. Motonari would let it pass as though it had never happened, however, even if the rightness did benefit him. In this case, the pirate had told the previously ailing man that he would perhaps regain his strength after eating real food. Up until now, Mori's diet was mostly fish broth and only little bits of fish here and there as his stomach calmed. Thus, it was no wonder he was too weak to even stand on his own.

After eating a full meal consisting of Motochika's catch and a small bowl of rice, this was proven to be true. Motonari felt better already, or at least well enough to sit next to the pirate before the fire, drinking tea.

"I believe this is the most ill I've ever been, aside from the time I had the fever," he idly related to his companion in between sips of the hot brew. It was nice and strong, just the way he liked. Not surprisingly, the tea had also been made by Motochika.

"As a kid?" Chosokabe asked, seemingly interested.

Motonari didn't look at him, instead watching embers rise from the fire and float off into the sky before disappearing, the bits of wood that fueled them having burned out before they could go too far. He nodded, being nonchalant about it now. But, back then, it had been a different matter, as he'd nearly died.

"I suppose I am prone to them since then. Whenever I am under the weather, a high fever always accompanies it."

"That would have been nice to know," Motochika snorted. "But I guess there wasn't any reason for you to tell me that."

"Well now you know. It would have been useless information before now."

Yes, but everything was different now. Like a pathetic idiot in an equally pathetic love story, he was drawn to the one who had nursed him back to health. The funny thing was Chosokabe appeared attracted to him as well. Oh, he wasn't too naïve to notice such things over the course of the day. The question was what to do with such knowledge? He could play with him and see where it led—political advantages were aplenty here. Strategic alliances would be all too easy to forge, but did he really want to do that? It was a consideration, and that was a sad thing.

"What happened when you were a kid?" Chosokabe was fishing for him to talk, the Mori clan leader realized. For that, he couldn't entirely blame him. Sitting alone for hours on end with no one to have even the most trivial of conversations with got to be nerve wrecking. Motonari knew this from experience.

"It was nothing remarkable," he indulged. "Children come down with fevers all of the time, don't they? It was just quite difficult to get mine to break that time. Since then, I suppose it always has been."

"Hm, nothing horrible like that ever happened to me when I was a kid," Motochika rubbed the back of his head, earning him a glance with an arched brow from the person he was chatting with.

"Didn't you lose your eye as a child?" Mori snorted as he raised his tea cup to his lips.

Clearly surprised, Motochika continued rubbing the back of his head, now staring at the smaller man. "How did you know that?" He was a sailor and a pirate, first and foremost. This usually meant he made up some outrageous tale about how he lost his eye. Said yarn would be different every time the pirate spun it, but few people would question the Demon of the Western Seas. It was just his luck that Mori was one of those few.

"You are my neighbor and my rival. Do you think that the truth of such a tale would escape me?" Again, the brunette snorted, clearly enjoying the position that he had Chosokabe in.

All of his tales of losing his eye in some noble battle or a fight with some nonexistent sea monster were being discredited in one go. "I just didn't think you'd care, Mori. Knowing how I lost my eye doesn't really benefit you, does it?" The pirate held up his hand. "No wait. Don't answer. I can see how it does."

"Hm," making an amused noise, Mori sipped the last of his tea from his cup and placed it aside, leaning back to admire the moon. "My family got occasional news of happenings in Shikoku, of course. Gossip, mostly. When a little princess lost their eye, my father talked of it a bit because it was the Chosokabe clan's heir, that princess."

"Himewako-chan," Motochika muttered, making a fist.

"So they did call you that?" Laughing, Motonari pulled himself to his feet and started to go inside. "I believe I'll rest for the night, Himewako-chan."

"You're going to leave just like that?" Motochika practically whined.

"Yes, on that very note. Timing is everything," the rival daimyo practically purred in reply, clearly enjoying the grief that his teasing caused. "You will be fine without me. Tomorrow is a new day of my glorious presence, besides. We are stuck together for quite a while, are we not?"

Motochika rolled his eyes, crossing his arms, "That's not what I mean. I mean you're walking away before I get the chance to think of a comeback."

"Yes, exactly! Good night, pirate," chuckling to himself, Motonari started to go inside, pausing at the door to give the other a lingering look. "Motochika?"

He referred to the other by first name merely because he was playing with him, like a fox playing with prey. This move was effective, as he noted how quickly the pirate turned. He was so emotionally ruled, that ruffian. This was partly the reason that the two clashed so much. One kept his heart sealed away, where even sunlight couldn't touch it, and the other kept his heart right on his sleeve, where it was all too easy to get it to start bleeding.

But there was something endearing about it too. Something, dare he say adorable, in the way that that singular blue eye was so transfixed on Motonari, waiting to hear what the man had to say. Did the so called Demon realize that he was behaving more like a little puppy right now? What had happened to bring out this behavior, anyway? Just earlier, the man had been so apathetic that it reminded Motonari a bit too much of himself. Did he now feel safe? If so, playing with the pirate's feelings like this was cruel. But then why should he care about being cruel to Chosokabe? Ah, he was going in circles over nothing!

"Try not to make noise," he spoke simply and then ducked into the house, wishing to escape his own thoughts.

Perhaps things weren't as complicated as he was making them out to be. It was just a ridiculous crush, after all. Even though he was such a guarded individual, it wasn't impossible for him to develop them, especially towards someone who had been as kind to him as Chosokabe had. And he was handsome, that pirate. This was undeniable. Everything that was happening made sense. It was just his uptight nature and tactician mind forcing him to put too much thought into this. It was happening. He might as well have fun with it, right?

"We are only going to be on this island a short time," he reasoned to himself as he undressed. "Then he will go his way and I will go mine, and that will be the end of it. Crushes never last longer than that."

Surely he was right in thinking this way. He was already beginning to recover from his illness, which meant that the feeling of being attached to Chosokabe would likely start fading. That would be most ideal, anyway. He didn't want to think of the possibility that it wouldn't because then, things truly would complicate themselves. Things must not be allowed to go any further than friendship, he decided, though he could only hope that this was not easier said than done. Motonari, at the moment, was confused by his own heart.

There was a pirate outside who did want it to go further, even if such a wish was foolish. Motochika did have a tendency to be overly passionate about things, and that was a problem in his life. As he reflected on this, he also realized that no one managed to make him lose his cool quite like Mori Motonari. Usually, his rival was making him pissed off beyond words, but, these days, that little son of a bitch got his heart fluttering. Why was this, aside from the obvious and superficial?

Yes, he wanted to bed his rival, but that was to be expected. Motochika was a man, after all, and he happened to find the little sun brat to be sexually attractive, at the very least. Homosexuality was no big deal to the pirate, either. Long months spent at sea made a romp with a member of his crew seem like it was not that bad of an idea, though he abstained, honestly. To them, he was Aniki, and it felt like that would be betrayed if he tried bedding any of those bastards. What they did amongst themselves was their own affair.

"Tch," Motochika clicked his tongue as he tossed aside a stick that he'd been using to draw circles in the sand. Keiji deserved a good punch in the face for stranding them here, though it was doubtful that he knew things would go this far. Likely, the Maeda vagabond had done all of this with nothing more in mind than the hope that they wouldn't strangle each other. Either way, thinking about it too much wasn't going to help anything. There was nothing better to do, and so the pirate decided he would take to his bed.

By the time he made this decision and laid down, Mori was already asleep, or so it appeared by the oil lamp. Motochika put it out and then laid down on his own futon, turning onto his side facing away from his housemate.

He was actually starting to lightly doze when he heard his name.

"Chosokabe, do you hear that?"

"Hnngh," grumbling, the pirate sat up and waited for his eyes to adjust before looking towards the other's futon, finding that he was sitting up.

Not receiving an answer fast enough for his tastes, Motonari got out of bed and relit the lamp, immediately looking around the room that they were in. "You apparently sleep like a log, but I heard something scurrying about."

"It's probably some little lizard or something," Motochika yawned. "Go back to sleep. It's not gonna bite you."

Motochika was mistaken to believe it would be that easy. Motonari folded his arms and started to glare, making it clear that if he couldn't sleep, Motochika wouldn't be sleeping either. The only way anyone was going to be resting tonight is if the scurrying culprit was found.

"Damn it!" Chosokabe cursed with all of the cheer one might find in a tiger that has a thorn piercing his paw. So this was what his life was going to be like from now until they were rescued? It couldn't be said that he hadn't asked for it in becoming friends with Motonari. He knew the rival clan leader was… particular about things, but he hadn't imagined himself losing sleep over it. Of course, this was exactly what Motochika had sought to avoid their first day on the island—becoming yet another sacrificial pawn to be ordered around on Mori's whims. Yet, he saw no other way, knowing that he likely couldn't sleep with a lamp burning and through the other's bitching. Usually when he slept, the rest of the crew was crashing as well, whatever party they may or not have been having dying down since Aniki was usually the life of it. Thus, it couldn't be said that he was used to sleeping through noise. Definitely not through copious amounts of nagging and possibly being attacked.

"I am only doing this because you needed to rest," he spoke up. But it was really more so for his own benefit. He needed some way to assure himself that he was not about to become Motonari's bitch.

"Just find the thing and get it out!" Motonari demanded with folded arms. His only concern here was getting the uninvited guest out of their temporarily shared domicile.

Motochika grumbled and cursed, mostly for the sake of making it clear that he was not happy with what was going on here. The pirate was sure that it was nothing more than a lizard, and if that was the case, it would not bother going near the prissy sun brat. However, it was clear that convincing Mori of this was a nigh impossible task. Thus, here he was, at all hours of the night, being forced to move things around in order to find their little visitor. After a good fifteen minutes of this, he was sure that he wasn't going to find a single thing, and so he turned back to the other daimyo, folding his arms.

"Look, Mori," he began just as the brunette pointed behind him with wide eyes. "Eh?" Motochika turned and found that there, huddled in a corner, was a tiny and very timid little mouse. "Oh!"

"Yes, oh," Motonari rolled his eyes. "I told you that there was something here and it turns out it's a filthy vermin, at that!"

"Oh, come on, Mori! It's just a little mouse!"

Motochika was absolutely still, waiting for the right moment, but he could sense the other's scowl and eye roll combination, knowing that the other's solution would be to throw something sharp at it and kill it where it stood. Moments like this were why the gentle man had been called Himewako-chan. Demon of the Western Seas or not, he couldn't bring himself to kill an innocent creature. He didn't even have cats for the same reason—that and they loved to try chasing and eating his parrot. As he watched the little mouse, Chosokabe had the thought that if he told Mori about what happened with his bird, the sun brat would take in the first cat he could find.

"Are you going to take all night with this? I would really love to get some sleep." Motonari's patience with the matter had run a little thin.

"Your hypocrisy is showing there, Mori," the pirate rolled his single eye.

Slowly, he took a few steps back, looking to Motonari as though he feared the thing. Then, the large man threw himself onto the floor, cupping his hands around the mouse. "Gotcha!" As he stood, he revealed the small creature in his hands, the large thumb of the pirate pressed against the creature's neck gently so that biting would be difficult. But it was apparently not going to do so as the idiot pirate announced that the mouse was "trembling all over, the poor little bastard!"

"Great," Motonari yawned as he crawled back onto his futon. "Snap his neck and turn off the lamp so that I can sleep in peace."

"Mori, you little bastard, just when I think you can't be any more cruel, you show me that there are further levels of downright cold to go!" Chosokabe's one eye was gleaming with fury, which Motonari noted upon sitting up and glaring at him for continuing to talk.

"It is a mouse, Chosokabe," he answered in a huff. "A stupid mouse! Do what you will with it, but get it out so that I can sleep!"

But Motochika could not just leave things at that. He never could, as nothing riled him up and angered him more than Motonari's absolute disregard for the wellbeing of any life beyond his own.

"Everything deserves to live as much as you do, Mori. How can you be so cruel?"

"What answer is the one that will make you shut up and get rid of the damn mouse?" Motonari sighed.

Apparently that was the one, as Motochika turned and left the cabin, taking the mouse with him. After he had gone, Motonari sat there for five or so minutes, just waiting for him to return. It did not happen. Curious as to why, he got out of bed and peered outside, finding the pirate asleep on the ground, curled up a short distance away from the dying fire that had cooked dinner. The mouse was nowhere to be found, from where he stood, but that was beyond the point now.

"Because of a mouse, Chosokabe?" Sighing to himself, Motonari ducked back inside and put out the flame of the oil lamp, hoping it would at least be the last time it was lit until tomorrow night. He was tired, but upon climbing into bed, it was apparent that he was going to get no sleep tonight.

A mouse—that's all it was! Why did the pirate have to make such a big deal about vermin that got into grain stores and ate far more than what they deserved? Useless creatures in Motonari's mind, they contributed nothing to the world but disease and grief. Yet, that idiot outside adamantly insisted that the one who had stolen into their home, interrupting a night's slumber was worth raising such a fuss and ultimately sleeping outside over. He would never understand that man, even if he took a hundred lifetimes trying to do so.

"Idiot pirate," he grumbled as he curled up on his side. "Sleep outside, for all I care. I should have known better than to think that I could be friends with an idiot like you."

Closing his eyes, he sighed, realizing that his usual routine of apathy wasn't working this time. Yes, it appeared that he and Chosokabe wouldn't make it as friends if they were going to fight over something as trivial as a mouse. Why did that make him feel so… sad?

[AN: Well, this took a turn that I didn't have in mind when I started writing, but actually, some conflict is good. Don't want this turning too fluffy or Motonari to just start being this person that's totally nice and not himself. His cruelty and the fact that Motochika hates it makes for a realistic hurdle, so we'll see what happens! Oops. I also forgot I had this finished and kind of failed to upload it. I'm off my game!]


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